Longwood University is a four-year public, liberal artsuniversity located in Farmville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary, and became a university on July 1, 2002, having been known as Longwood College since 1949. It currently has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,080 and a total enrollment of 4,800.

Longwood offers over 100 majors and minors in three colleges: the Cook-Cole College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business and Economics, and the College of Education and Human Services.[5]

The university is consistently ranked in the top ten public, masters-level universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report. In 2005 it was recognized by USA Today as among 20 schools in the country that promote and foster student success.[6][7] The Longwood Theatre program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.[8] The Longwood Music Department is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.

The Longwood faculty includes Dr. James William Jordan, who was recognized as State Teacher of the Year in 1992 by the Virginia General Assembly. An anthropologist, he founded the Longwood Archeology Field School in 1980. He has led archeological studies in central Virginia to study the cultures of its earliest inhabitants, as well as studies of nineteenth century sites, including plantations, cemeteries and historic buildings.[9] In 1995 he was selected as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Professor of the Year.[10]

On March 23, 2013, W. Taylor Reveley IV was chosen as Longwood's president by a unanimous vote of the Board of Visitors. He began his term June 1, 2013, succeeding interim president Marge Connelly.[11] Reveley's father, W. Taylor Reveley III, is the president of the College of William & Mary, and his grandfather was president of Hampden-Sydney College.[12][13]

The Cook-Cole College of Arts and Sciences[14] offers many programs. Two signature programs are the MBAdvantage Program,[15] in which students receive a bachelor's degree in a field in Arts or Science and an MBA in about five years, and the Liberal Studies program. The Liberal Studies major is designed specifically for students' seeking certification to teach with an Elementary, Middle, or Special Education Endorsement.[16] With careful scheduling and attention to the requirements for admission to the teacher preparation program, a student can complete all degree and program requirements in four years. Liberal studies majors take courses in English, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. They also take 40 credits of education courses from the department of Education and Special Education. The Teacher Preparation Program is administered through the Office of Professional Services.[17]

The College of Business and Economics at Longwood University, under the leadership of Dr. Paul Barrett, is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the highest accrediting agency for business schools worldwide. Students can earn either a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, or a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with B.S.B.A. concentrations including Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, Real Estate, Economics, and Information Systems and Security and Bachelor's of Science in Economics concentrations including Business Economics, International Economics and General Economics. In addition, the College of Business and Economics offers a minor in Cyber Security through the Longwood Center for Cyber Security, and operates a Logistics Center as a research partner with the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems.

A popular myth on the university campus holds that whenever the college changed its name, catastrophic events, like the Ruffner fire, deemed "The Great Fire of 2001," occurred.

Other examples include:

1884: The college changes its name to the State Female Normal School in Farmville. This was part of the agreement when the Commonwealth of Virginia bought the school from its original owners, because the owners were bankrupt following the Civil War.

1923: Right before the school changed its name to the State Teachers College the next year, a fire destroyed the dining hall, sitting behind Ruffner Hall.

1949: Just after the school changed its name to Longwood College, a fire destroyed White House Hall, a building next to East Ruffner (currently where part of Main Tabb is today), and a mirror image to Grainger Hall, which housed an auditorium. The decision was made by then-President Dabney Lancaster to wait for the new auditorium (now Jarman Hall) to open two years later, then expand Tabb to connect directly to Ruffner.

2001: Just before the school changed its name to Longwood University, Ruffner Hall caught on fire during renovations and had to be rebuilt. Grainger Hall, which had been connected to Ruffner at the time, was also torn down due to damage from the fire.

On April 7, 1884, the state of Virginia acquired the property of the Farmville Female College, and in October of the same year the Normal School opened with 110 students enrolled, making it the first state institution of higher learning for women in Virginia. The Normal School expanded its curriculum over the years and progressed through a succession of names. It became the State Normal School for Women in 1914, the State Teachers College at Farmville in 1924, and Longwood College in 1949. The school is named after the historic Longwood House.[18] In 1954, graduate programs were authorized. Longwood became fully coeducational in June 1976.

On April 24, 2001, a main university building, Ruffner Hall, caught on fire and burned down despite the efforts of multiple local fire departments including the Farmville fire department. It was in the middle of a renovation and was subsequently rebuilt. Ruffner Hall, built in 1839 as the "College Building", evolved through several stages of construction and expansion from 1839 to 1907. For decades the sprawling Ruffner, whose image appears on the university's logo and seal, was the main administration building, with administrative offices on the first floor and student housing on the upper two floors. After students vacated the building by the early 1970s, dorm rooms were converted to office and classroom space. The former library, Lancaster Hall, was renovated and reopened in 1996 as the main administration building. Ruffner was then used primarily for classrooms and faculty offices before being closed in 1999 for renovation.

Governor Mark Warner officially signed legislation changing Longwood's designation to university on April 24, 2002, the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed Ruffner Hall.

Longwood's main campus comprises approximately 154 acres (0.62 km2) near downtown Farmville, Virginia. The architecture of the campus ranges from its more historic “north core” to its more contemporary southern end – organized along a central promenade, Brock Commons.

The older part of campus stretches along High Street from French dormitory to Grainger Hall. These six red-brick Jeffersonian buildings: French (currently being renovated to serve as the future home of the Informational Technology department), Tabb (athletics), South Ruffner Residence Hall, Grainger, Ruffner, and Blackwell Halls date from the 1830s to the 1920s, are joined by a covered colonnade, and bear the university’s signature red roofs.

At the center of this complex is Longwood’s main building, Ruffner Hall. The College of Arts and Sciences and recently[when?] the university’s athletic offices, are located along this section of campus. To the western end of the north core is the administration building, Lancaster, as well as Jarman Auditorium and the Chichester Science Center, which was completed in 2007.

Longwood University from the entrance to Wheeler Residence Hall

Adjacent to the campus' central pedestrian walk, Brock Commons, are the College of Business and Economics in Hiner Building, Cunningham Residence Hall, the Dorrill Dining Hall, and the Lankford Student Union. At the south end of campus are the library, music and arts buildings, and the Hull Education Center.

The Health and Fitness Center opened on August 28, 2007. The 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) facility features an indoor track, basketball and racquetball courts, a climbing wall, work-out rooms, juice bar, and the latest weight, exercise, and training equipment.

Across Main Street, a new retail/student housing complex consisting of four four-story buildings arranged in a pedestrian mall-type setting, called "Longwood Landings", was completed in the fall of 2006. This complex includes the university's bookstore.

A satellite area known as Lancer Park (formerly known as Stanley Park) sits north of the main campus just across Route 460 and includes several athletic fields, athletic facilities and residential apartments, and is accessible from the main campus by vehicular and pedestrian bridges.[20]

The Longwood University Lancers athletics program fully transitioned into a NCAADivision I in 2007, after competing as an independent since the 2003-2004 season. It continued competing as an independent until affiliation with the Big South Conference in 2012. The men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and tennis. Women's sports offered include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, and tennis. The program has produced a number of professional athletes, most notably Jerome Kersey (NBA), Michael Tucker (MLB), and Tina Barrett (LPGA), all of whom were part of the school's inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame Class in 2006.

Longwood also has many club sports, including rugby, baseball, football, men's lacrosse, roller hockey, golf, and others. The Men's Rugby Team took 3rd place in USA Rugby's Division 3 National Tournament in 2007, and again in 2009. In 2011 Men's Rugby won the National Championship. The 2010-2011 season ended with the Lancers ranked #1 in the nation for Division III schools. They beat Occidental College (CA) in the National Championship by the score of 36-27 on May 1 in Virginia Beach, VA. The National Championship is the school's first. The club baseball team in their second year of competition made it to the Division II club baseball world series in Johnstown, PA. They went 2-2 and finished 4th.

Longwood University's Princeton Review "Quality of Life Rating", at 68 on a scale of 60 to 99, is the lowest among Virginia's rated public colleges and universities. Additionally, Longwood has the second lowest freshman retention rate (79%) of all participating public colleges and universities in Virginia.[21]

Longwood has been voted one of the greenest campuses in the Southeast by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.[22]

Popular at Longwood is its secret society, CHI, represented by the Greek letter X.[23] CHI was founded on October 15, 1900. Members are secretly "tapped" and are revealed only at the conclusion of their senior year during the annual CHI Burning, a large bonfire held on campus to commend members of the Longwood community for their selfless acts.[23] CHI at times leave "CHI droppings" on campus, and it is considered very rare for somebody to find one.[24] Pieces of CHI are not meant to leave campus, and are to be passed down before one graduates, per tradition.

Another secret society at Longwood is Princeps, which was founded on seven principles of leadership. Members are selected during their undergraduate career. The group recognizes and honors citizens of the Longwood community who are exceptional leaders.[24]

Unique among public American universities is Longwood’s adoption of a patron saint. Saint Joan of Arc is said to both protect and inspire Longwood students. The University’s two prized depictions of Joan are Jeanne d’Arc, — known affectionately as “Joanie on the Stony" — an 1870 plaster statue created by French sculptor Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu, and Anna Hyatt Huntington's 1915 bronze Joan of Arc equestrian statue, nicknamed “Joanie on the Pony.”

Rituals and myths dealing with the two statues abound. Joanie on the Stony, for example, heralds the occasion of every CHI walk with a pair of mysteriously appearing blue and white carnations. Joanie on the Stony is also said to bring good luck for tests to students who touch her clasped hands on their way to class.

Joanie on the Pony, however, with her knight's armor and sword, acts as Longwood’s protector. On the night of the Great Fire of 2001, Joanie turned bright red upon her horse from the intense heat of the flames. Although the fire spread west-ward, engulfing Grainger Hall along with Ruffner, the connected student dorms past Joanie to the east remained untouched — the fire stopped directly before her.[25]

In October 2009, Joanie on the Pony was vandalized. After being restored, she was placed in Ruffner Hall in April 2010.